Raymond van Barneveld's year has started in promising fashion.
The five-time world champion kicked off 2018 by reaching the Masters final. Despite losing 11-8 to Michael van Gerwen, it was a positive performance. Van Barneveld received a further boost, as it was confirmed his performance had earned him a spot at the Grand Slam of Darts. Barney will be part of the 32-strong field this November in Wolverhampton. The Dutchman is the seventh person to qualify for the Grand Slam. Van Gerwen was the first to seal his spot by winning the 2017 event. Peter Wright, the other Grand Slam finalist, also confirmed his place. They were then joined by World Youth Championship winner Dimitri van den Bergh, and runner-up Josh Payne. Jonny Clayton was the fifth player confirmed. He finished runner-up to van Gerwen at the Players Championship Finals. Rob Cross earned a place after becoming world champion in December. Phil Taylor would have taken the seventh place, but forfeited entry due to his retirement. After van Barneveld, 25 more players will join the field. Eight of those will be chosen by the BDO. The next opportunity to claim places will be at the UK Open in March. Both the winner and runner-up will put their name into the hat for the Grand Slam, unless one or both has already qualified.
Michael van Gerwen and Peter Wright were the first players to seal a Grand Slam spot. Photo: Lawrence Lustig/PDC
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- @UndartedWaters I totally agree with your thoughts! I totally respect Kirk but in this instance I was disappointed with his lack of crowd control. I even turned to my husband and said "Could you imagine this happening if Russ Bray was the referee tonight? At least there would have been a crowd admonishment- Ladies and Gentleman please." I so felt for Mike DeDecker...MamaVenus15-11-2024
- Many fans had a sour taste in their mouth by the end of this match. Mike was cruising to victory, playing beautiful darts, when the whistling started in earnest, particularly on his doubles. You could see in Mike's face that it was really affecting his concentration. The referee should have asked for order, just to show that the whistling is unacceptable, and Luke Littler could also have done his part to quieten down the crowd instead of "taking full advantage.:" I put that down to his age though. He needs some good advice on this from his management team and/or more seasoned players. It's got to be about who's best on the night, not who is being harassed by the crowd. Luke Littler played well to get back into the game and win, but it was a hollow victory. If he goes on to win the tournament, that triumph too will be tainted because of this match.
UndartedWaters15-11-2024 - Agree. Van der voort will be the one taking a break when he loses his tour card. Everyone saying about how bad Wright's last 18 months have been, and in that time he's won several Euro tours and the European Championships.Matilda6215-11-2024
- When Littler has at least five ranking Majors he’s in the discussion, until then, forget it.Mysstree14-11-2024
- This is the difference between other players and Phil Taylor. Phil would be completely motivated even before his walk on and didn't need anything else to do so.richieburnettrocks14-11-2024